In 2005, the Montgomery Advertiser released a series of interviews and stories to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which officially began on Dec. 5, 1955. The following story originally ran as a part of that series.

Inside at 1435 Hall St., Urelee Gordon is surrounded in his shop by dozens of them.

Black ones.

Brown ones.

White ones, and blue.

Patent leather, matte leather, and even some synthetic.

They have one thing in common, though: They are polished to a high shine. Shoes have been Gordon’s business for decades.

He’s shined the shoes of many men, but there was one he’ll always remember: “The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” he said with a broad smile.

The Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy, the Rev. Robert S. Graetz, pastor of Trinity Luthern Church, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., talk outside the witness room during the bombing trial in Montgomery on May 28, 1957. Abernathy?s church and home were bombed as well as the home of Graetz, who has an all-black congregation.
Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy, left, Rev. Robert S. Graetz, center, pastor of Trinity Luthern Church, and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., talk outside the witness room during the bombing trial in Montgomery, Al. on May 28, 1957. Rev. Abernathy's church and home were bombed as well as the home of Rev. Graetz, who has an all-black congregation. A wave of bombings took place after full integration on buses that resulted from the 13-month Montgomery Bus Boycott. (AP Photo)(Photo: AP)

“He would visit about two times a week,” he recalled while sitting inside his shoe shine shop in Montgomery.

King would visit often, pay the $1.50 it cost to have his shoes shined and leave a generous tip.

Gordon remembers the days of the movement in Montgomery. The men in his shop would talk about what was going on. He wasn’t much of a church-going man, he admits, and the mass meetings were something he missed primarily, but he supported the bus boycott in his own way.

“It was a great accomplishment,” Gordon said. “It was something that should have been done a long time ago.”

Gordon heard once that King had preached about him in church, about the common man who deserved dignity and respect in an integrated world.

“He was preaching about the ‘Shoe Shine Boy,’ Gordon recalled with pride.

But the “Shoe Shine Boy,” like so many other blacks during that time, was not treated with the dignity desired or deserved.

“The state law was separation of the races,” Gordon said. “The law was carried out. Everybody understood.” Montgomery’s blacks understood, but they refused to accept it. They challenged the law and prevailed.

Gordon suspects those shoes he shined for King covered many miles. King went on to lead mass nonviolent protests, the 1963 March on Washington and the famous 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery March.

Gordon believes the boycott is the best thing that could have happened for the city at the time.